Angela Ackerman Life can be painful, especially for our characters. In fact, the fallout of an emotionally wounding event such as a car accident, failing to save someone’s life, infertility, or being sent away as a child can derail their life for years (or even decades!) if left unresolved. Not only that, it can change […]

Margie Lawson Hello Everyone! I’ll SHOW then TELL: “Goodbye LA, G'day Australia.” She wiggled her hips and Beyoncéd into the hall. That fun example was written by multi-Immersion grad Elaine Fraser.   Now I’ll TELL: Allusion is a rhetorical device. It’s a quick reference to a famous person or event that includes the trait. BEWARE: Allusion […]

If you follow me on Facebook you know I'm the Queen of Pinterest (and if you don't, why not? Beauty pics, cat memes, inspirational quotes, odd Victorian photos — COFFEE! It's a sea of happy in a chaotic world. LauraDrakeAuthor). When I saw this the other day, the photo caught my eye first. Then the message slammed […]

Tiffany Yates Martin   I had a blog post all queued up for this week, but I’m on a plane back from the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ annual Colorado Gold conference and can’t stop thinking about the weekend and what it made me realize about this business—and the authors who are the soul of it. […]

  As a copy editor, I've learned a lot about improving the flow of my own writing as I've tweaked the manuscripts of others. Today I want to share four easy edits you can make yourself that invite the reader deeper into the story and provide the impact you want to have. 1. Eliminate crutch […]